Judas Priest - "The Ripper" (1976)

Hello Friends,

Great live video of Judas Priest playing their classic, "The Ripper" from the classic records "The Sad Wings of Destiny" and "Unleashed in the East".

Remember kids, never turn your back on the ripper!

Unleashed in the East

Judas Priest - "Unleashed in the East" (1979) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

We're kicking out the jams tonight with Judas Priest's first ever live album recorded in Japan on their 1979 Hell Bent for Leather tour!

Featuring two amazing and well-placed cover songs, Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)" and the unbelievably great Joan Baez break-up anthem, "Diamonds and Rust".  Wowsa!  

There's also "Exciter", "Sinner", "Running Wild", "The Ripper", "Genocide", "The Tyrant" and the epic, "Victim of Changes".  

This was Priest's Live at Budokan.

Listening to this record, one is continually reminded that Axl Rose owes his entire career to Rob Halford & Judas Priest!  Same with you, Perry Farrell!

Man oh man, Halford at the height of his powers must have been beating the ladies off with a stick!

RATING: 4.5 i'll be damned here comes your ghost again out of 5

Iron Maiden - "Remember Tomorrow" (1980)

Hello Friends,

An early tune from Iron Maiden's first, self-titled LP.

You're probably like, "Hey, Bruce Dickinson looks a lot different!"

And you'd be right.  That's Maiden's original singer, Paul Di'Anno, who appeared on their first two records.  It wasn't until their third LP, 1982's The Number of The Beast, that Dickinson took over as lead vocalist!

Iron Maiden - "Flight Of Icarus" (1983)

Its a Maiden Monday here on Vinyl in the Valley!

Enjoy!

Sin After Sin

Judas Priest - "Sin After Sin" (1977) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

We're kicking it to Judas Priest's third LP tonight.  Sin After Sin would be the band's major label debut as well as the record that helped solidify their place as one of the best hard rock bands of their era.  From the dueling, ripping guitars of Glenn Tipton & K.K. Downing to the vocal gymnastics of frontman, Rob Halford, the album is a prime example of late 70's British heavy metal.  Its rocking and bad-ass, but also complex, dark and thoughtful.

Simply put, Sin After Sin sounds like an important album.  

Look no further than their inspired cover of the Joan Baez song, "Diamonds & Rust" to see a band at the height of their prowess.

The album kicks off with one of genre's greatest lead off songs, the galloping and epic "Sinner" with lyrics like "Sinner rider, rides in with the storm / The Devil rides beside him / The Devil is his god, God help you mourn..." RIght on!

"Sinner" is followed by the aforementioned, "Diamonds & Rust" for a killer one-two punch.

Side One is rounded out the Science Fiction-y "Starbreaker" and the heartbreaking ballad, "Last Rose of Summer".

Call for the Priest, I'm Dying...

Side Two kicks off with the heavy & very Queen-influenced "Let Us Prey/Call for the Priest" followed by the sleazy & riff-filled "Raw Deal" (also Tiki T.'s pick for best song on the record!  She loves the sleaze!)  

"Here Comes the Tears" is the album's second ballad which is good, but a little weird considering that some of the tracks on this record would have been some of the heaviest, hardest and most aggressive music to 1977 audiences and to casually throw in two sincere-sounding & ornate ballads (one on each side) seems like a bit of a mind-fuck. "Tears" is almost operatic in its approach and build-up; it sounds like something that could have been found a couple of years later on Pink Floyd's The Wall.  Also, some great guitar work.

Judas Priest was one of the first bands to utilize the double-bass drum and the 16th note bass/guitar rhythms which would become a huge influence on heavy metal music as a whole.  Nowhere is this more apparent on the album's closer, "Dissident Aggressor", a fast-tempo and aggressive closer.  On this song, as well as the record as a whole, you can hear their far-reaching influence to not only fellow New Wave of British Heavy Metal rockers, Motorhead, but even to later bands as diverse and different as Slayer and Jane's Addiction (In our opinion, Perry Farrell owes his career to Rob Halford!)

Great album from start to finish.  Its not only the sound of band trying to figure out and harness their sound, but of a new movement in music trying to figure out its place and approach!

\m/

RATING: 4.5 smiles out the window of the crummy hotel over Washington Square out of 5